The second draft report deals with units of measurement.

This is a consolidating measure which reflects the fact that when we became a member of the European Community we accepted the change over to the metric system of units of measurement. This proposed directive consolidates all the Community provisions relating to units of measurement and meets the requirement to review before 31 December 1979 the continuing permitted legal use of the remaining Imperial units. In the annex to the proposed directive, Chapter I sets out the legal units of measurement which have been definitely adopted. Chapter II sets out the units which may remain legal in member states until 31 December 1985; these relate mainly to medicine and radiology. Chapter III sets out certain common Imperial units of measurement which may be retained but which under the terms of the proposed directive must disappear by a date to be set by the Council before 31 December 1989.

Is it 1989 or 1979?

It is 1989, ten years away.

Is this paragraph 3?

It is paragraph 4. Paragraph 3 relates to the present position and paragraph 4 relates to the proposed directive.

There are also Imperial units in Ireland which must disappear by 31 December 1979 under existing law. Other units must disappear by a date to be fixed when?

It is to be fixed in this draft directive.

It is fixed in the directive, as being 1989?

Yes. Effectively, the Imperial units must disappear by a date to be set by the Council before 31 December 1989. All the Commission have done is to give themselves a decade during which they must take the final decision to kill all of these things.

They could within that decade decide that it would not be until the year 2,000.

They would just have to set a date before then. Maybe we will understand the value of these units at that stage. This proposed directive is based on Article 100 of the EEC Treaty. It is a harmonisation measure and it will require the introduction of the deadlines for withdrawing most of the Imperial units. By our membership of the European Community we accepted that we would be moving in that direction, in any case.

There is no new law?

No. In paragraph 8 we say that:

The Commission accepts the view that it is unrealistic to expect that units of measurement in force for a long time can be abolished immediately without a transitional period and that the Joint Committee welcomes this approach as it avoids units with which the public has long been familiar being dropped too abruptly.

I welcome this proposal.

PARAGRAPH 1.

I move :

To add after the second sentence in Paragraph 1 the following:

" The Joint Committee is indebted to Senator Robinson and her Sub-Committee for their work."